1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a corkscrew of the type “with lever” including, on the one hand, a spiral mounted rotating on a zone of a handle comprised between an end segment and a maneuvering segment of said handle, around a first axis perpendicular to said sleeve, and on the other hand, a telescoping arm having a first element mounted rotating on the end segment of said handle around a second axis perpendicular to said handle and a second element, having an upper end and a lower end, mounted sliding in said first element between an idle position in which its lower end is located at a distance d0 from said second axis and a second position in which its lower end is located at a distance d from said second axis greater than d0, the lower end of said second element being provided able to bear on the neck of a bottle.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
A corkscrew of the type “with lever” traditionally makes it possible to reduce the pulling force that a user must supply to remove a cork after having inserted a spiral therein.
Different categories of corkscrews of this type are currently commercially available, in particular differing from one another by the number of bearings or the number of levers that they include.
The most basic model includes a lever with a fixed length allowing a single bearing on the neck. Such a device nevertheless has limitations at the end of uncorking, when the force to be exerted to remove the cork becomes significant, or in case of cork with a length greater than the standard length. Indeed, the handle of the corkscrew is then placed practically vertically relative to the bottle, and the lever can no longer act, requiring the user to complete the uncorking operation without using it.
Other, more elaborate models have been proposed to offset this drawback.
A corkscrew model is thus known including two separate levers fastened on the same rotation axis and each having a bearing point on the neck of a bottle. Such a structure nevertheless results in a somewhat tedious usage mode, since it requires the user to change the bearing point, and therefore lever point, during the operation. Furthermore, after placing the second lever, it is necessary to pivot the first lever to place it in a position in which it does not risk hindering the operation thereof or bothering the user.
A corkscrew with double bearing has also been considered, having a first lever, including a first bearing, fastened on the handle of the corkscrew, and a second lever, having a second bearing, mounted rotating on the lower end of the first lever. In the same category is also a corkscrew with double bearing described in document FR 2,755,957, which includes a first lever mounted pivoting on the handle and a second lever smaller than the first lever mounted rotating on a central part of the latter. Nevertheless, such corkscrews do not make it possible to resolve the drawbacks mentioned above, since here again, their structure is such that the user is forced to change levers during uncorking, and to pivot one and/or the other of the two levers in order to put it in the usage and idle position.
Furthermore, a corkscrew is also known with a single lever and multiple bearings as described in publication FR 2,772,364, in which the different bearing points are embodied by a row of notches made in a groove of the lever. Such a structure also involves manually changing the bearing point as a cork is removed. Consequently, it is no more satisfactory, in terms of its usage comfort, than the solutions described above.
Document EP 0,860,396 describes another solution in which the corkscrew includes a lever having a first element with a given length connected to the handle and the lower end of which is provided with a bearing point. The lever also has a second element connected to the first element, the lower end of which is also provided with a bearing point and which is movable between a position retracted inside the first element and a position partially removed from the first element. In its retracted position, the upper edge of the second element appears in a window formed in the front face of the first element and in which the head of the handle is able to be inserted during its rotational movement. The movement of the second element toward its position partially removed from the first element results in lengthening the latter. This movement is obtained by the action of the handle being gradually inserted, following its rotation, into the window of the first element and therefore bearing on the upper edge of said second element. Such a structure makes it possible to simplify the implementation of the corkscrew, because there is no longer a need to replace one lever with another or one bearing point with another during the removal of the cork. Nevertheless, it has been observed that the length by which the first element is extended is generally not sufficient to allow the removal of the entire cork using the lever and that the user must generally use his strength alone to ultimately achieve this.